The Achievement Academy of Durham empowers hard-working, at-risk students, who have dropped out of high school, to become productive, successful members of the community through obtaining a North Carolina High School Equivalency Diploma and postsecondary education.
Our year-round daily school provides the education and support necessary for high risk, initially low reading, hard-working students living in poverty to become gainfully employed citizens. We pair formal education with the teaching of personal and leadership skills to turn lives around.
In addition to helping our students earn a NC High School Equivalency Diploma (“GED”), we work with our students through post-secondary education at Durham Technical Community College (DTCC).
Postsecondary education enables our students to climb out of poverty and gain financial stability for themselves and their children.
Since our founding in 2005, we’ve graduated 56 GEDs 1 and are currently supporting 17 of our graduates in postsecondary education. You can help us do even more.
1 Number of GED graduates is current as of 12/08.
Daniel's Success Story
My name is Daniel. I’m 17 and from Durham N.C. I have four younger siblings that I will be responsible for in the near future. My big brother was shot and killed two years ago. In order for me to get a job to make enough money to care for my younger siblings, I have to stay in school. Without an education no-one gets very far in life.
Two years ago, I was headed down the wrong path on my way to being a high school drop out. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd, getting in trouble, skipping and leaving school, and fighting. Being in school all day can be a problem for some teens. As you can see I was one of them. I got kicked out of school for having weapons on school campus, knowing that things like that shouldn’t be on school grounds. But I learned from my mistakes.
I was going through Teen Court after this happened to me. I got assigned to a probation officer, and he helped me get back into school. He informed me about the Yes program where they help students who drop-out get their G.E.D. I had a friend who was in the Achievement Academy, finishing up his G.E.D. I asked my case manager in the Yes program to put me in the same school. This was a good turning point for me in my life, because I really needed my education.
